January, 2021

• 18 January

  Italy’s PM may lack votes to halt political turmoil

  

  Bloomberg Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte risks emerging weakened from a parliamentary showdown this week even if he can muster enough votes to hold on to power. Conte faces a confidence vote in the lower house of parliament, which he’s likely to win, but he could face a similar vote in the Senate on Tuesday, where he has less room ...

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• 18 January

  Philippine banks’ rebound to beat revival from Asian crisis

  

  Bloomberg Philippine banks will recover faster from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic than they did from the Asian financial crisis due to record-low interest rates, higher capital and a stable economy, the head of the nation’s bankers group said. Lenders in the Southeast Asian nation may bounce back in three to four years — about half the time it ...

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• 18 January

  RBI signal on higher money-market rates worries bond traders

  

  Bloomberg Bond traders in India are bracing for more turmoil as the central bank signals its intention to keep lifting money-market rates. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) offered a cutoff yield of 3.55% for a cash-draining operation, higher than traders had expected and a full 20 basis points above the lower boundary of its interest-rate corridor. “Future operations may ...

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• 18 January

  HDFC Bank shares climb in Q3 after profit tops estimates

  

  Bloomberg HDFC Bank Ltd., India’s largest private lender by assets, posted third-quarter profit that beat analyst expectations after earnings were buoyed by strong loan growth. Shares jumped. Net income was 87.6 billion rupees ($1.2 billion) in the three months through December compared with 74.2 billion rupees a year earlier, exchange filings showed. That beat the average estimate of 76.4 billion ...

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• 18 January

  BOJ likely to hint at skipping of ETF buys

  

  Bloomberg The Bank of Japan’s (BOJ) upcoming policy assessment is likely to signal a pause in the bank’s buying of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) as long as stocks stay buoyant, according to a key author of the BOJ’s ramped up asset-purchase plan to fight the pandemic. “The BOJ is likely to make a more comprehensive judgment on the amount and frequency ...

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• 18 January

  StanChart prepares to slash hundreds of jobs

  

  Bloomberg Standard Chartered Plc is preparing further job cuts as the emerging markets lender continues a restructuring that was postponed by the onset of the pandemic. The London-headquartered bank is expected to cut several hundred staff next month across its global businesses, with the reductions focused on more junior employees, according to people familiar with the matter. The bank has ...

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• 18 January

  Vexed central banks brace for more damage to growth

  

  Bloomberg Resurgent coronavirus outbreaks will vex central bankers on five continents this week as they weigh the threat of more damage to growth against the hope that mass vaccinations will reopen economies. Institutions meeting from Tokyo to Frankfurt to Ottawa are pondering the prospect of another lost quarter amid renewed lockdowns to contain the pandemic. Most are likely to maintain ...

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• 18 January

  Emerging markets tested by rising dollar ahead of Joe Biden’s return

  

  Bloomberg A stronger US dollar is proving to be an early test for emerging-market currencies on the eve of Joe Biden’s inauguration. The greenback gained over the last two weeks, buoyed by the president-elect’s proposal for a $1.9 trillion stimulus package. Most developing-nation currencies have slumped in that span, and history suggests further pain may be in store. MSCI Inc.’s ...

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• 18 January

  India stocks track Asian falls, edging away from key 50,000 mark

  

  Bloomberg India’s equity benchmark falls in line with its regional peers, and is now set for a second day of declines. That slump will put the S&P BSE Sensex even further away from the key 50,000 level it was looking to breach last week. The benchmark slid 1% to 48525.55 as of 11:59 am in Mumbai, with four stocks falling ...

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• 18 January

  US equity futures retreat, dollar edges higher

  

  Bloomberg Markets were mildly risk-off on Monday as investors weighed strong economic data from China, US President-elect Joe Biden’s stimulus plans and surging coronavirus trends. Carrefour SA tumbled 5.8%, leading Europe’s Stoxx 600 lower, after Canada’s Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. abandoned talks on a $20 billion merger. The dollar ticked higher, oil prices were weaker and US equity futures dipped. Asian ...

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